Water-level gage for pails.



E. B. ANGELL. WATER LEVEL GAGE FOR FAILS. APPLICATION FILED MARA, 1912.

Patented Mar. 10, 1914..

34 2 Egg. fl W J' W J 1 UITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN E. ANGELL, 0F SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

WATER-LEVEL GAGE FOR PAILS.

To all whom, it may concern Be it known that I, EDWIN E. ANGELL, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Somerville, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in -Water-Level Gages for Pails, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the present invention is to provide a gage by which the height of water in a pail or bucket provided in readiness for use in case of fire in buildings, may be brought prominently to the attention of persons within view of the pail or bucket.

It is a common practice, and one recom mended by insuranceunderwriters, to provide in factories, work shops, and other places where the danger of fire is a serious one, pails or buckets which are kept filled with water in readiness to extinguish an incipient blaze. Such pails are frequently placed at such a height that their interiors can not be seen by persons standing upon the floor of the room containing the pails, so that the need for replenishment of the pails is not made evident except by the investigating person approaching the pail and raising himself sufficiently to look into it or inserting his hand. Frequently pails are located in difierent parts of the same room and their contents are subjected to different rates of evaporation owing to different conditions of temperature, air currents, etc., which necessitates replenishment of some more fre quently than others. The maintenance of all such pails in a filled condition is ditficult and uncertain, owing to the difliculty of determining the quantity of water in each and the chance that some may be overlooked by the person charged with their replenishment.

It is the purpose of my present invention to provide a gage which may be attached to any pail or bucket and will give notice to any one in view of the pail as to the quantity of water in it, and is of such a character as to call attention forcibly to any pail in which the quantity of its contents may be less than that required.

The invention consists essentially in a holder or guide adapted to be mounted upon a pail, a float adapted to rest upon the water in the pail, and an indicator connected with the float and held by the guide in such a way that it is visible outside of the pail and is moved in consequence of a rise or a lowering of the level of the contents of the pail.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 4, 1912.

Patented Mar. 10, 1914.

Serial No. 681,393.

side elevation and a front elevation of one it form of gage. Figs. 3 and 4 are similar views showing another form of gage.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, the guide T is formed of wire so bent as to form a comparatively rigid member a adapted to lie agalnst the inner face of a side of the pail, two spring grippers b 0 adapted to bear yieldingly upon the outer surface of the side g of the pail and cooperate with the body portion a in grasping the pail, and two inwardly extending arms (Z, 6 having eyes f, g, respectively, on their ends arranged in substantially vertical alinement. The guide here shown is made of one piece of wire having bends, coils, and Wrappings, suitably arranged to provide the parts or members above described, but the particular construction is not a material part of the inventionand need not be exactly as shown in the drawings. The float is represented at h. It is here shown as being a hollow metal sphere, but this detail also is not material to the invention, since the float may be of any material and have any form desired, provided only it has the necessary buoyancy. To the float is connected a rod 2' which extends loosely through the eyes f and g and is retained thereby in an upright position with capability for moving endwise with the utmost freedom. On the top of the rod is an indicator 7', which may be of any form and character and is here shown as a ball. It will be readily understood that when the guide or holder is placed upon the side of the pail in the manner described, the float rests upon the water in the pail and is able to rise or descend as the water level is raised or lowered. In so moving it also moves the indicator j, which extends well above the rim of the pail when the latter is full and is below such rim when the pail is empty or in urgent need of replenishment.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the guide or holder is a metal casting having a bar is intended to extend in a substantially vertical plane along the outside of the pail, and a tongue Z separated from bar 7 by a space wide enough h is connected to a rod 2' which passesthrough the arms f and g and is bent over toward the exterior of the pail and then downwardly through an eye in the end of an outwardly projecting arm m of the guide. The part of the rod which thus extends downwardly is designated 2' On the lower end of the rod 2' is mounted the indicator 7' which is thus brought adjacent to the bar is and is caused to travel along and opposite such bar in rising and descending. I have chosen to place marks or graduations n on the bar, which in connection with the indicator show in units of measurement the discrepancy between the condition of the contents of the pail at any time and the full condition.

It will be readily seen that in spite of any difierences of form and arrangement of the parts in the two embodiments of the invention shown, the essentials of the invention are the same in both cases. Other modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and without passing beyond the scope of the appended claims.

It is within my contemplation to paint the indicator a bright color, or otherwise make it very noticeable so that it will attract attention of any one whose eye happens to fall upon the pail and will at once give warning if the pail needs replenishment, whether the person who happens to be given this warning has the matter on his mind or not.

I claim:

1. A water level gage for pails, buckets and the like, comprising complemental embracing members having a space between them adapted to be slipped over the edge of any pail and to lie adjacent to the inner and outer faces of the pail, guiding means projecting inwardly from'said embracing members, a slide engaged with said guiding means and held thereby in a substantially vertically position with provision for movement lengthwise, a float connected to the lower end of said rod and adapted to be supported by the water in the pail, and an index member carried by said rod outside the pail and visible externally thereof;

2. A gage for fire pails comprising members relatively constructed and arranged to embrace the lip or rim of a pail, vertically separated arms attached to said members having apertures or eyes in substantially vertical alinement, a rod passing loosely through said eyes and adapted to move endwise therein, a float connected to said rod within the pail, and an indicator also connected to the rod outside of the pail.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

' EDWIN E. ANGELL.

Vitnesses:

E. BATOHZELDER, P. W. PEZZETII.

Copies of thll patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patentn, V 7

Washington, D. G. 

